"Strategies to Improve GU's U.S. News Ranking"

[Gold Hoya]

Published on the Viewpoint page of today's issue of The Hoya:
www.thehoya.com/viewpoint/102505/view8.cfm

Paging Jack!

[Jack]

My response is coming, but you might have to wait for Friday's Hoya to read it. For now it must suffice to say it is one of the most misguided viewpoints I have ever read, both in premise and in application. It is almost like the Hoya Opinion editor is baiting me by publishing this garbage, but I have taken the bait and will respond in kind.

[SFHoya99]

Can I make a quick guess?

Dear Ms. (?) Yi,

I missed where Georgetown's goal was to optimize the US News and World Report ranking or even its student's incoming SAT scores at the cost of everything else.

Thank you,

Jack.

[TBird41]

Also, her suggestion that Gtown maximize its selectivity doesn't seem that necessary, since Gtown is ridiculously low acceptance rate, i.e. something she could have looked up.

[nychoya3]

First off, it doesn't seem like the author really understands how the formula works, and she certainly doens't explain it. So endowment is 10%. What are SAT scores weighted at? Just how much higher does she think we could push the median score at Georgetown? It's already in the mid-1400s - not too far from Yale or Harvard or whoever else. How big a difference would that even make if it was worth doing (it's not.)? These would be good things to know.

"It is, however, necessary to dispel two big myths about the U.S. News rankings before we can learn to use it advantageously. First, a university’s endowment is not a significant factor in the U.S. News ranking. Financial resources only account for 10 percent of the overall ranking methodology. The admissions office claims a causal link between endowment size and U.S. News rank, but Emory has the ninth largest endowment yet its rank is 20th, while Penn has the 11th largest endowment, and yet enjoys a fourth place ranking. The Penn’s rank exceeds Stanford, MIT, and Columbia, whose endowments rank fourth, sixth and seventh respectively."

I don't really know how to respond to this, except to suggest that the author look up what "causal" means.

Then there's this:

"It is, however, necessary to dispel two big myths about the U.S. News rankings before we can learn to use it advantageously...Second, the U.S. News Ranking significantly influences prospective applicants."

Umm...so is that part a myth or what? You know, if the author/editor (I don't want to bash Yi too much because I was a columnist for the Hoya and used to get some of my arguments chopped into incomprehensible fragments) doesn't take the time to actually proofread the thing so that the topic sentences make sense, it's not really worth my time.

Finally (and believe me, I could go on)..."If you still don’t believe me, just ask yourself if you or your friends ever read the U.S. News Best Colleges issue before applying to Georgetown." Just shoot me now. I'm tempted to make a snide comment about MSB, but I'll restrain myself. But it's very, very hard.

This could be an interesting topic for debate, because I'm sure that other schools are doing interesting things (and maybe we are as well.) The question of whether those things are A) financially feasible for Georgetown at the moment and B) minimally disruptive to Georgetown's larger vision of itself as an institution of learning would make for good reading. I look forward to Jack's response.

[JimmyHoya]

How stupid.

What about...increase the endownment, build new science facilities, and add that "important" engineering program (if we could be truly arsed to meddle in that)?

[Gold Hoya]

Jack's response has arrived.
www.thehoya.com/viewpoint/102805/view10.cfm

[Nevada Hoya]

Good response, Jack! Mr. or Ms. Yi made some suggestions that were less than ethical in my opinion, and Jack called him/her on them.

[SFHoya99]

Bravo, Jack! Here's one alum that is completely with you.

[Gold Hoya]

Another viewpoint published today: www.thehoya.com/viewpoint/110105/view8.cfm